More Chinatown street fair pics

Blogger had some issues with me uploading pics yesterday, so I only was able to upload a few. Here are a few more.
This, for all of you out there in Blogland, is one of Portland's most famous: Darcelle. As in, Darcelle the Famous Transvestite of Old Town, as in Darcelle the owner of DARCELLE's- the Drag Queen show place, as in Darcelle- the Announcer of the Gay Pride Parade. Yup- She's pretty famous in Portland. I've never been to Darcelle's- we the single mamas to be were talking about how it would be interesting to go and SEE a show, since the only exposure I have to a drag queen show is from watching The Birdcage or Pricilla Queen of the Desert... And No- Darcelle is not of asian decent, but the parade was representing businesses in Old Town, and she certainly is a well known businessman/woman!
We arrived to see the beginning of the parade, and it was VERY short. It was a great parade, just incredibly short. (this after going to the St Johns parade this summer which lasted over 2 hours!) So, because it was so short, and it was such a wonderful parade, we walked around to the end of the parade & watched it twice. We were surprised to see a few more cars that were not in the parade when it started (!)- they must have come late. So we were laughing that Darcelle, who had probably spent at least a few hours on her makeup & getting dressed & ready for the parade, was there on time, but our Mayor- Tom Potter...was late! Don't get me wrong, I'm a supporter of Tom Potter. This is the guy who when confronted with the "problem" of Critical Mass (a bike group that rides through downtown Portland once a month during rush hour to clog up traffic to help make people more aware of bikes in Portland), this is the Mayor who got on a bike and went riding with them during one of their rides to find out what it was all about. My kinda Mayor. If we had to lose Vera (our Mayor for 12 years, retired as her Cancer had come back)- Tom Potter is a great replacement. Another little fact I loved about him: He refused donations over $25 for the bulk of his campaign. Only in the last month he allowed donations of up to $100. How great is that? He brought in something like 1/3 or 1/4 of what his competitor brought in, but won the election by a landslide.

Okay, enough about our politics in Portland, back to the streetfair/parade pics!These are Dancers from the Portland Drum Corp. These guys are also pretty well known in Portland, and I've seen them perform a few times now. Both times were with Pink Martini
Another great Portland thing- Pink Martini are a local band who are a bit of a mix of classical chamber music, mixed with Cuban Jazz, mixed with French music...They are one of my favorites. Hard to explain, just go check out their website & give it a listen! They have this one song "Brazil" which is best played loud (I've seen them once with the Oregon symphony Orechestra, and once with a smaller Orchestra)- and somehwere in the middle this huge drum corp comes in with these dancers in these huge elaborate costumes. Quite beautiful!!


Stay tuned for more pics- coming next, the Shaolin Monks!!!